620 Ch. 16 • The Revolutions of 1848

Germans putting up barricades in the streets of Altenburg during the Revolution of

1848.

cabinet with a more liberal one. The king promised to end press censorship

and grant a constitution. He further stated that the Prussian monarchy

would take the lead in pushing for a joint constitution for the German states.

But as troops moved in to disperse the throngs, someone on one side or

the other fired shots. Students and workers put up barricades. The next day

the army attacked the insurgents, killing 250 people. As in Paris, the shooting

of civilians by troops drove the situation out of control. Women were among

the casualties. The king sent the troops out of the capital and appealed for

calm. Intimidated by the disturbances, he met with representatives of the

crowd, authorized the formation of a civic guard, and ordered the release of

imprisoned liberals. He paid homage to those killed in the “March Days” and

announced that “Prussia is henceforth merged with Germany.”

Most of the Berlin insurgents had been artisans, as in the February Revo­

lution in Paris. Although some of them were vaguely nationalist and wanted

Prussia to lead the way toward the unification of Germany, most had eco­

nomic goals. During the “hungry forties,” mechanized production had under­

cut tailors, whose handmade clothes could not compete with mass-produced

garments. Cabinetmakers and shoemakers had lost the security afforded by

guilds. Now these artisans demanded state protection. Workers in other

German states, too, mounted protests, principally in the more industrialized